Red Seas Under Red Skies read along, part the fourth

As the end of the book gets closer and closer, the plot lines get more confusing and intertwined. Will Captain Drakasha’s fellow pirate captains betray her? How will Locke and Jean finish out the Requin game? Will they get back to the Archon in time for the poison’s antidote? Will Jean opt to stay with the beautiful Erzi? and who are all these incompetent assassins that keep getting snagged on a certain someone’s stilettos everytime they touch land in Tal Verrar?

So many questions, but the ones we’re most interested in right now are those supplied by nrlymrtl from Dark Cargo. Be sure to give her a shout out along with our other read along co-hosts, Lynn’s Book Blog, My Awful Reviews, and @ohthatashley from SF Signal. This week’s reading section was Chapter 11 thru end of chapter 13, and wow was a lot happening! The Parlor Passage (creepy!), trust issues up the wazoo (gulp), and generally learning how to be a pirate. good stuff.

On twitter? use #lynchmob. And on to nrlymrtl’s great questions!

1) I was much relieved when Jean and Locke made up, which started with Locke’s gesture of a cup full of honesty with Cpt. Drakasha. Do you think that was hard for Locke? Or was he using this bit of honesty like any other weapon in his arsenal to get what he wants in the end?

2) The Parlor Passage: We still don’t know Locke’s true name, but whatever was in that mist does. What do you think it is?

3) There was an interesting section of the book that started about where Locke assisted Drakasha in selling the Red Messenger; he put on the persona of Leocanto Kosta and used the alias Tavras Callas and then Drakasha was still thinking of him as Ravelle….. Did using all those various aliases in such a short amount of time have your mind spinning a little? Do you think Lynch did this on purpose to give the reader a sense of Locke’s mind?

4) That was a sweet little kiss between Cpt. Zamira and Cpt. Jaffrim at the end of the Captains’ Council. Do you think they have some history, or is it just innocent flirting that’s been going on for some time?

5) Jean and Ezri. Cue dove-cooing and little winged hearts with sparkles. Do you think Jean will stay with the Poison Orchid or that Ezri will leave her ship to pal around with Jean and Locke?

6) What is Utgar up to? What are his motivations?

7) So last week we hashed over that Merrain killed some of Stragos’s guards on Windward Rock. But when Jean and Locke visit him, he doesn’t mention it. What is up with that?

8) This week’s section left us where the book began – Jean pointing a crossbow at Locke’s throat. Do you think Jean knows who sent these crossbowers? Is he on their side? Is it a clever ploy to get him and Locke out of this predicament? Did you find it excruciatingly hard to stop here?

1) I was much relieved when Jean and Locke made up, which started with Locke’s gesture of a cup full of honesty with Cpt. Drakasha. Do you think that was hard for Locke? Or was he using this bit of honesty like any other weapon in his arsenal to get what he wants in the end?

Yes, and yes. Locke has some major, major trust issues. and now Jean expects him to put his full trust in Drakasha, an honorable woman, but a woman he hardly knows? Of course it was hard for Locke. he’s taking the biggest leap of faith of his life here. If she doesn’t like what he says, she would be well within her rights to have them both thrown overboard, making this a really short book. and Yes, he’s using his warming relationship with her to get what he wants: back to Stragos and Requin.

After all this is over, Locke is really going to need a nice vacation.

2) The Parlor Passage: We still don’t know Locke’s true name, but whatever was in that mist does. What do you think it is?

it’s fucking creepy is what it is. My guess would be that whatever is there is of Eldren origin. When the finally get to the Bay, Ezri explains that the bay is surrounded by Elderglass rocks under the water, and nothing can get past them, so whatever is in the Parlor Passage seems trapped there, which is a good thing! I don’t know if it’s magic or what, but whatever it is, I like it being trapped way out in the middle of nowhere. Just sucks to have to go through it.

3) There was an interesting section of the book that started about where Locke assisted Drakasha in selling the Red Messenger; he put on the persona of Leocanto Kosta and used the alias Tavras Callas and then Drakasha was still thinking of him as Ravelle….. Did using all those various aliases in such a short amount of time have your mind spinning a little? Do you think Lynch did this on purpose to give the reader a sense of Locke’s mind?

it’s never mattered for me what name Locke is using, or what he’s wearing, or what color he’s dyed his hair. He’s always Locke to me. I think all the acting switches had Locke’s mind spinning a bit (what’s my backstory again? what accent do I use? what is my motivation?) , but I was ok with it. Scenes like this I’m sure are a bit different in the audio, because hopefully the narrator is changing the accent and verbal mannerisms to match whatever character Locke is playing.

oh, but I would have just died to see the look on Drakasha’s face! she’s finally seeing Locke do what he does best, and his talents aren’t what she’d expected!

4) That was a sweet little kiss between Cpt. Zamira and Cpt. Jaffrim at the end of the Captains’ Council. Do you think they have some history, or is it just innocent flirting that’s been going on for some time?

I’m sure it was a hot fling once upon a time. But can you imagine how their conversations might have gone? “Sweetheart, you stay home while I go out and plunder.” ” Whatdya mean, I should stay home while you go out and plunder?” They both know it never would have worked out, so I think these days it’s fun and innocent flirting, perhaps some wistful dreaming about what could have been. Ehh, but that Jaffrim, I think he’s got a darker side.

Again, everyone in these books needs their own prequel! I want to know the details of how Ezri ended up on a pirate ship. I want to have met Drakasha as a younger woman. I want more background on Requin and Selendri! I want all the prequels!5) Jean and Ezri. Cue dove-cooing and little winged hearts with sparkles. Do you think Jean will stay with the Poison Orchid or that Ezri will leave her ship to pal around with Jean and Locke?

oh, they are SO cute together! not like shojo barfy cute, but cute like I wanna go find my other half and get all sexy times with him. And also hold his hand in public, and kiss him while we’re in line at the grocery store.

If Jean opts to stay with Ezri, what’s Locke going to do? go off on his own and be all lone wolf? I think it more likely that Ezri is going to retire as a pirate to stay with Jean on land. They’ll have to induct her into the club of thieves, but come on, she’s already a pirate, so it’s not like this will be totally foreign to her. She might even get a chance to play the Lady Ezriane once again.

6) What is Utgar up to? What are his motivations?

in a word? money.

he’s doing something terrible for someone so he can get better positioning on another ship. Maybe he’s got ambitions to be first mate, or Lieutenant, or whatever. He wants something that Drakasha isn’t giving him, and he’s willing to do anything to get it. also, lots of gold. He’s an ambitious, greedy motherfucker.

and I know what he’s up to. If i think about it get really angry, so I’m not going to think about it until the thing happens.

7) So last week we hashed over that Merrain killed some of Stragos’s guards on Windward Rock. But when Jean and Locke visit him, he doesn’t mention it. What is up with that?

I’m thinking he doesn’t know (but he has to, right?) or he’s giving them just enough rope to hang themselves with. He can play all friendly and whatnot, and then when the gents ask him for something, he can be a dick and say “oh, help you out? like you helped all my guards in the dying department?

8) This week’s section left us where the book began – Jean pointing a crossbow at Locke’s throat. Do you think Jean knows who sent these crossbowers? Is he on their side? Is it a clever ploy to get him and Locke out of this predicament? Did you find it excruciatingly hard to stop here?

Work has been kicking my ass this month, so I was lucky to finish this week’s section at all.

I will say that that scene did nothing to help Locke with his trust issues.

There are so many things happening and I wonder if we’ll get a satisfying ending for all of them. Will we know how the chairs or cards are used to break into the vault? Will Locke get his revenge on the Archon and man, Jean, what happened?

We’re so close to the end :(. I agree with you, I want all the prequels! I really like how Lynch has managed to imply rich histories for so many of his characters without overwhelming us with piles of irrelevant (to the main story) information.

authors are always trying to flesh out minor characters, but it’s usually with uninteresting stuff – their physical attributes, where they got scars from, something about their childhood. . . Lynch has turned “fleshing out the minor characters” into a fricken’ art form, it’s that trick of telling us just less than we want, so we are always begging for more!

I’ve never had a problem with Locke’s identity switching either. I admire his ability to keep all of these schemes and personas spinning. As far as Stragos goes… he’s probably saving his knowledge of the deaths for a rant at the end and as justification for not following through on his end of the bargain because he’s evil like that.

Right! Well, I’ll tell you what you do. You LOVE IT! I feel kind of silly for thinking Lies was a crazy convoluted nightmare, because RSURS is unbelievably worse. Was there a warning on the cover that I missed.

Like: Caution, you will pull all your hair out in attempting to get through this! 🙂

Locked needs a little vacation? Agreed. Will he get it?
I think not 😀
It’s true that his trust issues are not getting better at all with this book… plus his mate his drifting with a charming lady, and he’s probably thinking, what is going to happen to me? Poor sweetie.

I get really angry too thinking about Utgar, so let’s not. Can someone make him have a nastly yet unplanned accident RIGHT NOW?

Ok, the Utgar thing is starting to sound very ominous. 🙂 I sure hope he gets his ass kicked if it’s upsetting you thinking about it.
Btw, I was upset at where we ended this week, but luckily, I can go on tonight. 🙂

Read-a-longs are so fun! I haven’t had the chance to do one for too long, maybe next time! I just found your blog the other day and am really excited, since it looks like you have the same taste in books as me, yey more recommendations I can rely on 😉 I’d love if you could stop by my sci-fi/fantasy book blog too if you have a chance!

The Parlour Passage was one of my favorite parts in this book thus far. It’s creepy and fascinating at the same time, and I thought it was so interesting to hear that it was getting worse/changing. Whatever’s there certainly doesn’t want to be confined, and I wonder what caused it to react that way.

I am this read-along’s invisible ghost!
I’ve been here all along, reading your posts and comments every week, but personally I’ve been silent as the grave. Why? Read my post 🙂
You guys are all so great, and I love to read my favorite book of all times together with you! I hope you’ve enjoyed it just as much as me so far?

FTC Stuff

some of the books reviewed here were free ARCs supplied by publishers/authors/other groups. Some of the books here I got from the library. the rest I *gasp!* actually paid for. I'll do my best to let you know what's what.